Craven Arms brewery about to bottle the 5,000th brew

The brewer based at Wistanstow is gearing up to produce brew number 5,000.

The family owned brewery is brewing one of its best sellers, Shropshire Lass, as the landmark 5,000th brew.

It comes just over 33 years after the first barrels of Wood’s Special were rolled out of the former stables behind the village’s Plough Inn.

“We reckon that we’ve brewed almost 30 million pints since my father Basil and brother Anthony started the brewery,” said managing director Edward Wood.

“The family started the brewery as part of the movement to continue producing real ale at a time when the major brewers were shifting draught beer production exclusively to long-life keg beers.

Wood Brewery is still in its original village location, but has grown dramatically since the early days. It started with a capacity of seven 36-gallon barrels a week. Today it can turn out over 100 bar rels a week from a much-extended brewery.

“No-one dreamed we would get this far or grow this big – 5,000 brews of beer and tens of millions of pints is a heck of a lot of beer from one small brewery in the middle of south Shropshire. We’re delighted,” said Edward.

Wood’s employs 10 staff and its draught and bottled beers sell in free houses throughout the west and south Midlands and Wales, as well as being shipped nationwide.

It has won many awards for the quality of its beers, the best known of which is now Shropshire Lad.